Tuesday 18 May 2010 12.33 EDT
First published on Tuesday 18 May 2010 12.33 EDT

On the scale of newsworthy events, "Republican in sex scandal" sits somewhere alongside "Pope is Catholic" in terms of predictability. But today's Republican sex scandal is noteworthy for two reasons: (1) the sex only involved a man and an adult woman; (2) the politician immediately announced his resignation.

The politician in question, Mark Souder, is a representative for Indiana's third congressional district. Naturally, he was elected "as a family values conservative as part of the Republican revolution in 1994". Still, at least he's resigning, unlike David Vitter of Louisiana or John Ensign of Nevada, both of whom remain in the US Senate, who seem less bothered.

Update: Actually, make that three reasons why this is noteworthy. In his resignation speech this afternoon, Souder explained why his wife and family weren't present:

My family were more than willing to stand here with me – we are a committed family. But the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility. And, quite frankly, I'm sick of politicians who drag their spouses up in front of the cameras, rather than confronting the problem that they have caused.

Hats off to Mark Souder. Most politicians don't have the class to figure that out.